The Bones

1st Year.

When you imagine a cyclist whose father was a world class sprinter, you would probably picture a big tall hulk of a person as a result of perfect genetics. That's where you're wrong. I weigh at least 150 on a good day and I'm 6'1''. Its weird to think that. When I first started to race I was even thinner. It took 4 years of of hard gym work to get to my current weight. My career as a cyclist started late. I was 15 when I started to race. I was thrown into it and learned the basics of riding through the yelling and teachings of my dad and through the help of my dad's old coach, Gil.

3rd Year

That winter I trained hard though the gym and on the trainer. I made sure that I was going to be good. But again I was just decent. I was doing well in races. I was keeping up with the top local jrs, but I could not, for the life of me learn tactics, my inexperience was making me lose. That year was also the first year I heard people say stuff about me slowly moving through the ranks and my dad being director of the track. That hurt my feelings a bunch. There were nights I'd come home beyond upset and just sulk in bed. Depression hit me, it hurt me to hear those things.

4th Year. Last year as a jr.

Then one night of racing I beat a jr rider by a tire width. He was livid, in the warm circle he told me that the only reason I can get far in the sport is because I will piggyback off of my dad's success. Thats what set me off. The next race, out of pure rage, I hooked the kid all the way into the wall. The next two years I set myself out to show the sport that I am a different breed of rider. I will not be pure endurance or pure sprint. I will be both. I will be a powerhouse on the bike. To this day I train with the same anger that was put into my heart the night that kid said that to me. The last two years of racing as a jr. I crushed the local jr riders. But to this day I still have to fight to show to myself that I am one of the best track cyclist in the nation.

Intro/ My Story

You are a product of your environment, so the saying goes. If that is the case then I am supposed to be some superhuman track sprinter who is on a fast track to Rio. But I am not, I barely weigh 150 pounds and am 6'1''. For those of you who do not who I am Tyler Nothstein son of one of the most decorated American track cyclists of all time Marty Nothstein. I am always reminded of that. Don't get me wrong I am proud of my Dad and he is my number one role model. I want to be great like him. One day I want to go to the Olympics. But not for the sprints. I have turned into a mass start racer. Instead of the awesome and powerful one on one sprinting my dad did, I do the chaotic scratch and point races. That is where I shine I love the rush of being in a tight pack with over 30 riders on a banked oval track on a bike with no brakes.

The struggles of my success does not come from training and injury. It comes from my pedigree so to speak. The success of my dad hangs over me like a shadow. The local community expects me to be great, and I do too myself. But the pressure is crippling for me. One bad week throws me off mentally. And not to mention the things said behind my back and to my face. Things that made me want to punch the person in the face. Things like I piggyback off my dad's success, I am only at the level I am at due to the fact that my dad runs the local track and many others that I heard over my brief 4 years of racing. I dismiss those sayings with my results. National team sprint champion, 4 time national medalist, 2013 Jr. Track Worlds National team member, State and Regional champ in the sprints, and Pennsylvania Best all Around rider. I surged from a cat 5 on the track to a cat 2 in my 4 years of racing. 

I am bred to race it is in my blood. Bane from The Dark Knight Rises sums that up with this quote: "I was born in, moulded by it." 

I started this blog to talk about my struggles and my success, my races, and my ever growing career in the sport of cycling. I am not here to cry about what is said about me. The things that were said about me made who I am. It made me stronger, tougher, and faster. I use that rage and anger in my races. I set up this blog to document my life as a child of cycling.